Sanctions Squeeze Iran

The Treasury Department on Thursday issued new sanctions against Iran for its missile and nuclear activities by targeting front companies and banks involved in illicit trade.

“Iran today is under intense, multilateral sanctions pressure, and we will continue to ratchet up the pressure so long as Iran refuses to address the international community’s well-founded concerns about its nuclear program,” said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen.

“Today’s actions are our next step on that path, taking direct aim at disrupting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs as well as its deceptive efforts to use front companies to sell and move its oil,” he said.

A senior administration official briefing reporters on the new sanctions said efforts to squeeze Tehran were having a “dramatic impact” on Iran’s ability to sell oil and access the revenue from those sales.

The official said current estimates show that about 700,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day are being blocked for sale. Earlier this year, Iran was exporting around 2.3 million barrels a day; exports are now down to 1.6 million barrels a day.

Along with European Union oil sanctions and recent U.S. law targeting Iran’s oil sales, “the ability of Iran to sell oil will diminish,” the official said, noting, “Additional oil will come off the market in the ensuing weeks and months.”

Critics of the Obama administration have said issuing waivers to several countries, including China, to buy Iranian oil have undercut the effectiveness of the sanctions.

Four Iranian front companies, 20 banks, and scores of ships were sanctioned under a presidential executive order and singled out as entities that cannot trade with U.S. banks or companies.

“Each of these entities are front companies for the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Naftiran Intertrade Company Ltd. (NICO), or Naftiran Intertrade Co. (NICO) Sarl (NICO Sarl),” the State Department said in a fact sheet.